Words and the Word:
Bible as Literature, Literature as Bible
Christians recognize in one way or another that, in Sacred Scripture, God’s self revelation occurs through literary form and in interaction with a literary type of comprehensibility. The Bible is in fact a complex collection of diverse forms and stories, not a theological manual or catechism; it is a literature – and yet, if we recognize that the Bible is all poetry, would we also say that poetry is really all a Bible? What distinguishes the two and how do they inform each other? This conference considers the ways in which sacred literature is related to secular literature, and how the understanding of the one can inform our approaches to the other.
Keynote Speaker
Shemaiah Gonzalez
Shemaiah Gonzalez is a writer with degrees in English Literature (BA) , Intercultural Ministry (MAPS) and Creative Non-Fiction Writing (MFA). She thrives in moments where storytelling, art, literature, and faith collide. Her work has appeared in America Magazine, Image Journal’s Good Letters, Ekstasis, The Curator, and Loyola Press, among others. She is the author of Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight. Coming in 2025 from Zondervan/Harper Collins.